Search Result for "sordid": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (4)

1. morally degraded;
- Example: "a seedy district"
- Example: "the seamy side of life"
- Example: "sleazy characters hanging around casinos"
- Example: "sleazy storefronts with...dirt on the walls"- Seattle Weekly
- Example: "the sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils"- James Joyce
- Example: "the squalid atmosphere of intrigue and betrayal"
[syn: seamy, seedy, sleazy, sordid, squalid]

2. unethical or dishonest;
- Example: "dirty police officers"
- Example: "a sordid political campaign"
[syn: dirty, sordid]

3. foul and run-down and repulsive;
- Example: "a flyblown bar on the edge of town"
- Example: "a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest part of town"
- Example: "squalid living conditions"
- Example: "sordid shantytowns"
[syn: flyblown, squalid, sordid]

4. meanly avaricious and mercenary;
- Example: "sordid avarice"
- Example: "sordid material interests"



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sordid \Sor"did\, a. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or
   dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See
   Swart, a.]
   1. Filthy; foul; dirty. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            A sordid god; down from his hoary chin
            A length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Vile; base; gross; mean; as, vulgar, sordid mortals. "To
      scorn the sordid world." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Meanly avaricious; covetous; niggardly.
      [1913 Webster]

            He may be old,
            And yet sordid, who refuses gold.     --Sir J.
                                                  Denham.
      [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

sordid
    adj 1: morally degraded; "a seedy district"; "the seamy side of
           life"; "sleazy characters hanging around casinos";
           "sleazy storefronts with...dirt on the walls"- Seattle
           Weekly; "the sordid details of his orgies stank under his
           very nostrils"- James Joyce; "the squalid atmosphere of
           intrigue and betrayal" [syn: seamy, seedy, sleazy,
           sordid, squalid]
    2: unethical or dishonest; "dirty police officers"; "a sordid
       political campaign" [syn: dirty, sordid]
    3: foul and run-down and repulsive; "a flyblown bar on the edge
       of town"; "a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest
       part of town"; "squalid living conditions"; "sordid
       shantytowns" [syn: flyblown, squalid, sordid]
    4: meanly avaricious and mercenary; "sordid avarice"; "sordid
       material interests"